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Message: <blockquote data-quote="horacethegrey" data-source="post: 6060250" data-attributes="member: 40123">Allow me to be the first to comment on this film. As the first part in a trilogy, this movie is not as good as The Fellowship of the Ring. While Peter Jackson manages to conjure some fantastic visuals and get some great performances from his actors, he loads the movie with unnecessary filler that slows the films pacing to a crawl, thus making this movie feel like three hours.But don't fret, this isn't a disaster of The Phantom Menace proportions. Jackson's is a smarter director than that, but it's still a slight disappointment over what came before it.Let's get to the good stuff first. Martin Freeman is perfect as Bilbo. I've no complaints whatsoever on his performance. The same goes for Andy Serkis returning as Gollum. And would you believe it? The advances in CG and motion capture technology have made him more realistic and lifelike than ever before. The subtle change in expressions that Serkis pulls off are even more believable than they were in LOTR. Just watch how Freeman and Serkis play the Riddles in the Dark scene, which is fantastic. And then there's Mckellen as Gandalf, who somehow tops his performance in LOTR by bringing back a key element to The Grey Pilgrim that was absent before, that of being a sly manipulator. Richard Armitage also does fine as Thorin Oakenshield, bringing noble bearing and stubbornness to his portrayal. And speaking of dwarves, I never expected Jackson would be able to top the prologue from Fellowship, but the fall of Erebor does just that. It's an incredible sequence.But now let's get into the downside here. This movie feels LONG. Where Fellowship moved at a brisk pace, this film is bogged down by fluff that could have been left at the cutting room floor. The inclusion of the subplot regarding the Necromancer don't add anything to the film, nor does the inclusion of new material that Tolkien never wrote, like Radgast. Even the cameos of LOTR regulars like Galadriel, Elrond and Saruman feel glaringly out of place, or the scene between the Elder Bilbo and Frodo in the prologue. For me, the best stuff in the movie are those that are closest to Tolkien's book. It would have been better had the movie just focused on Bilbo and the Dwarves.So, there be my thoughts. While I still think this is solid fantasy film, it could have been so much better.</blockquote>

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